I was on the bus today Friday and overheard one woman say to the other: “It’s my mother’s birthday today. I’m not going to remember it. Why should I, what’s she ever done to me?” The other woman did not know what to say.

Don’t walk home alone, don’t wear provocative outfits, cross the side of the street when you see someone coming towards you, walk with your keys in your hands – all things I get told to do because I’m a girl and it’s seen as ‘my job’ to protect myself from being harassed in public.

Every time I turn on the television there seems to be more health advice about drinking. It’s definitely a good thing to raise awareness but I feel that we are tipping over the edge into indoctrination now.

The financial difficulties you report in local schools are matched throughout the country, because the education service, like other council services, has suffered significant cuts, estimated at eight per cent in most schools.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the percentage of those aged 65 and over who receive attendance allowance fell by 22.3 per cent in the six years after the coalition came to power in 2010.

On June 28 the council’s planning committee meets to decide on the planning application to develop Cawdor Quarry and the Permanite site – a decision that was deferred at their last meeting in December. This development will have a massive impact on Matlock and the surrounding area. It is a public meeting and anyone who cares about the future of Matlock and its environment should be there.